Are the plastic battery trays necessary?

[Kira]

Glad the OP got the condition addressed satisfactorily.

Interesting to read all the "close-in-size" substitutes. Is there a chart of those.

NOBODY mentioned that the underlying metal mighn't've been flat! Metal stampings can be uneven and a tray might be necessary to get a flat surface for the battery's bottom.

 

[RitcheyRch]

Size chart listed here

Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance

 

[Dave9]

Bigger battery won't help too much if she doesn't drive it often. Can she put a Battery Tenderer on it and plug it in when not driving?

Yes it will. Even more if seldom driven because the amount of charge left after discharging to start the vehicle will be higher. Deep discharge kills starter batteries faster than anything else so the less deeply, the better for the battery.

Also, starting with a higher capacity, parasitic drain won't discharge it as deeply over the same time period.

 

[Dave9]

Originally Posted by Dave9
Heh, once again we seem to have drifted off the topic which was not opinions on whether someone should get a larger battery - That is ALREADY the intent.

The answer is no, a plastic tray is not necessary but in the long term you may suffer faster corrosion of the metal under the battery if you don't have one. This is a long term effect, you can go ahead and get the larger battery now and then get around to getting the tray later, or even make one out of a piece of (non-brittle) plastic if you're handy fabricating this type of thing, though if others are right about the low price (or from a junkyard) then it hardly seems worth the bother to roll your own.


If I was to get an AGM battery, I could avoid that corrosion entirely, right?

Most people avoid the corrosion entirely using a vented lead acid battery. It is not normal for a battery to leak acid on the tray under it, rather a symptom of significant overcharging or defective battery.

Even if the tray is plastic, look at it. Is there acid residue? If you really want to make this a science project then you can get pH test strips, add some water to any dried residue to make a solution and see if it's acidic.